Message From jl

Hi Everyone!

WELCOME to all of our new subscribers, this week! We truly appreciate you! "Trade Journal Subscribers are THE BEST!"

I’ve been trying to get to an article on list-building, and what to do with a list, if you want a successful online business. However, other things have been needing attention. SO, it’ll have to wait.

Today, let’s dispense with Google’s toolbar Sidewiki, first, so we can move on.

As you probably gathered, last week, I don’t like it. No need to state all the reasons again. They’re here:

www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com/10-05-09.htm

Communicating(?) with Google

I commented on Google's “Let us know what you think about Sidewiki” page. First I asked for an opt-in function for website owners ...

You want it - you ask for it - you get it.
You don't want it - don't ask for it.

It's the only way I see of this thing being made acceptable. I didn't get - nor, did I expect - a response.

Then, I went back and asked the Google representative who started the thread, straight out, “If a webmaster blocks Sidewiki with a script, will Google stop indexing that website?”

I got the ol' “Who do you think you are that Google would respond to you,” from a couple of people. I didn't know if they would, or not.

But, it was worth a try to stop some of the hysteria over the matter. All the conjecture, accusations and assumptions weren't getting us any place.

After 24 hours, I wrote the question again and basically gave them another 24 hours to reply. The way I saw it, no response IS an answer.

Google DID respond. Unfortunately, they did NOT honor my request for a STRAIGHT answer, rather than using qualifiers. Google “Toolbar Guide, Bryan” wrote (in part):

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"Google Search and Sidewiki are separate. Sidewiki doesn't affect ranking and Google hasn't made any Sidewiki-related changes to its indexing. If anyone experiences diminished SEO as a result of any third-party tools, it's not related to us. It's up to you to make sure any tools you implement on your site do not adversely affect indexing on Google.com"
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He almost answered - but, not quite.

After 24 hours, I niggled at him, again - asking for clarification. Meanwhile, I had to put up with MORE comments about whether Google would deign to respond to little ol' me. Always love it when it becomes more important to see someone put down than to solve a problem.

After 48 hours, nada. So, I left a final message. I stated that no response is also an answer, and I let it go.

I'm finished with this. I'll tell you what I'M going to do, and give you a couple of free resources. Then, you can make your own decisions.

(If you would like to see the full communications first-hand, you'll find them here, starting about 2/3 of the way down the page.):

tinyurl.com/yj2oe8c

Sidewiki and iCop Members

My own plan is to hide and watch for a bit and see if I have any problems from Sidewiki. I already had a member run right over to the iCop site (after my article last week) and write that she liked it and would use it.

In other words, she rammed it down my throat - on MY website - even telling me I could edit or remove it.

I gave her three warnings and a deadline to remove it (since a website owner can NOT remove it.)

She didn't. She is no longer a member of iCop.

Maybe, she was testing her First Amendment rights. But, iCop's Member Agreement states:

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"iCop™ may terminate your membership and/or access, or suspend access to all or part of the Site, without notice, for any conduct that iCop,™ in its sole discretion, believes is in violation of this Agreement, any applicable law, or any act which is harmful to the interests of another user, service provider, or iCop.™"
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I deemed her unauthorized and unrequested live link showing with iCop's home page to be predatory advertising - or spam.

However, I truly don't believe most iCop members are that doorknob dumb. You have something to say to me - send me an email. Do NOT make me spend my time checking all the hundreds of pages on my websites to see if you left me a message!

I give iCop members plenty of links on the website. I've never been stingy with them. But, I will NOT tolerate them being viewed on our home page!

With this incident, I also noticed that Google mashes (that's the only word for it) the site owner's own comments to the top to be sure new comments are seen above the fold.

That was their big concession, remember - owners could have the top part of the page. So, they're already way ahead of us!

The Plan for the iCop Site

If I DO have problems from Sidewiki - I'll block it. I can't recommend this to you because I don't want to be liable if you experience losses. The fact that I'm willing to take that chance doesn't mean you are.

Someone wrote on Twitter, last week, he would not be Google's puppet. I agree in this instance. However, we've all been Goggle's puppets for 11 years with their constantly changing algorithms, rules and regulations.

We couldn't even stop them from publishing photos of our homes. It's taking a whole country (Switzerland) threatening to sue them! Will it work?

We COULD say, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” and try to take them down. But, that was tried when PayPal had 40 million accounts. (No, I wasn't involved in that stink.) They went down to 15 million accounts. Now, they have 90 million.

Well, THAT didn't work. So, don't waste your time getting caught up in any wars on Google. But, I digress ...

My Thinking is This ...

When we had the problem of predatory advertising on our websites, we used a script to block it. This script didn't “adversely affect indexing on Google.com.” (See Google's response above.)

And, as an aside, Sidewiki could also be considered predatory advertising - since anyone can post their own links and even videos - right beside your copyrighted web page.

The script I plan to use will be a .js file. Those are used constantly on websites and have not been known to upset Google. I use one for our member accreditation pages.

Of course, blocking scripts have popped up like mushrooms in the past couple of weeks. At least one of them has a price tag. However, I have no reason to believe it's a better script simply because the writer is a marketer first.

The first script I can tell you about is hosted on the creator's server, rather than yours. This may be perfectly fine. The script so many of us used to stop predatory advertising was also hosted on just one website - and it worked out well.

Here's the script:

<.script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.sidewikispam.com/sidewikispam.js”>

(Remove the period (.) in front of the first word, “script”

Go to the website and read what it says before using the script:

www.sidewikispam.com/#1254749078899

I downloaded the following .js file. It's right on the Google website for downloading, so how can they object? (Maybe they can.)

code.google.com/p/sidewiki-defeat/downloads/list

Be sure to enter your own website path in the script before uploading to your own server.

I haven't gotten around to trying either of these scripts, yet. So, I can't tell you how they work. But, I'm sure they do.

Now, Here's the Thing ...

Please note I said I will block Sidewiki if it becomes a problem to me. And, I'm NOT going to give you any silly excuses about why I'm not blocking it now.

The truth is this: we STILL don't know if Google will refuse to index sites that block Sidewiki.

If I later feel I MUST block it, I'll have to decide if I can live without Google. When we're mad, we tend to do a lot of chest-thumping and say cool things such as, "By God, I'll ... yada, yada, yada!"

But, the truth is, we can't kill an elephant with a flyswatter. Grown-up decisions are going to be called for.

Even though no website or organization has done any more than iCop toward encouraging business ethics and honesty online for the past decade, Google would, no doubt, take us down as fast as anyone else.

Well, NUTS! This subject took more space than I had planned.

I can try to squeeze in the new U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Advertising Rules. OR - I can wait until next week when I have more space to explain them in detail.

Like everything else, there's lots of screaming, yelling and rending of garments over it! All unnecessary. I'll show you why next week.

I think I'll wait and give them the space they deserve. It's come to the point where I really NEED a blog. Wish I knew how to create a decent one!

Have a fabulous week and ... keep on keepin' on!

  jl

P.S. Do YOU have the iCop seal on ALL your web sites? Scammers abound in a depressed economy. You will need the credibility of your iCop membership NOW, more than ever!

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Online Business Trade Journal™ is published solely by dr. jl scott, Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) and may not reflect the opinion of all iCop members.

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